With projected low prices on oil for the next 6 to 12 months and the just announced layoffs and shutdowns in oil field services and leasing will North Dakota continue to be a high growth state.Another one is that Michigan is just now reversing population decline that ran unabated since 2000.

Did some companies do layoffs?  

Of those events six were job fairs featuring major employers throughout the county, while 78 were resource fairs assisting job seekers in finding work.The department has also helped find jobs for 2,575 teens in San Joaquin County as well, he said.In an effort to make sure their clients stay employed, Solis said the department is launching a layoff aversion strategy program that will match job seekers with employers that fit their skill sets."

@Abe Osman, Chevron did a round of layoffs last spring and they are about to do another one in a couple of weeks.

I also hadn't heard about the tech layoffs and reduced venture capital money going there - those seem like pretty big indicators to me.Thoughts? 

I never stopped to think what if I lost my earning potential to garnishments or lay-off which I did and could not finish the project or I misjudged the transaction as a gain not a loss which it was, in which case I may have lost my only $10K I had as extra or expendable money throwing me out of the business into bankruptcy which it did.

I would use Robinhood for regular stock trade because it's $0 commission and $0 fixed cost for each buy and sell of stock.

It sounds like a robin hood story, Give the poor cash out,and when values go down the investers take a hit but i think values will come back eventualy and then they will score if they can weather the storm or it might be a long wait nobody seems to know if were at our bottom i think its a good time to buy and get in on some of these forclosures/short sales etc.thanks for the info you have alot of knowledge.

I understand where you are coming from because more properties can/ potentially have more cash flow but the risk is a lot higher (if I get layoff and don't have enough income to sustain all my properties). 

Now, twelve years, three more kids, two layoffs, a career change and a cash-out refi (to pay off some credit cards) later we're about $15k underwater on a house that needs about $15k in updating and deferred maintenance that I'm working through as time allows (now that our finances are getting back on-track).